


Clueless

by demonofabove, KakairuRocksForum



Category: Naruto
Genre: Cute, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pining, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonofabove/pseuds/demonofabove, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KakairuRocksForum/pseuds/KakairuRocksForum
Summary: Kakashi and Iruka went on a date, except only one of them knew that's what it was. And now Kakashi has to tell Iruka how he feels.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 10
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dunloth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/gifts).



> Mod kakairu-shrine (demonofabove) wrote this for Dunloth, whose nominated trope, Idiots in Love, was the winner of the Kakairu Rocks forum Trope Tournament!
> 
> We hope you enjoy this!

Tenzou was enjoying a quiet evening at home. He'd been working on a jigsaw puzzle he'd bought a few days earlier - a beautiful picture of a tropical rainforest filled with all kinds of colourful birds; and after being stuck figuring out the last of the edge pieces, he had just decided to take a break and get some coffee.

He turned the jug on, and while he waited for it to boil, he added a heaped teaspoon of coffee to his mug, and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, then went to the fridge to grab the milk. As he was searching for it, he felt a strange wind behind him, alongside a more intense atmosphere, and the sensation that he was being watched; and he mentally sighed. There was only one person who had the presence of an ANBU, and always used the window as a door…

"Evening, Senpai." Tenzou said, as he grabbed the milk. "Coffee, or tea?"

"Coffee, please - black, no sugar."

Tenzou made a face. He could never understand how Kakashi could drink it like that - it tasted awful.

"Alright." He said, a small smirk creeping on his face. "Go and sit at the table. I'll bring your poison over soon."

"Thanks." Kakashi replied, making his way to the dining room.

Tenzou glanced at him curiously. He had been expecting some kind of comeback for the coffee remark, but Kakashi hadn't acknowledged it at all. So that meant either he was here on more serious business, or something was on his mind. If it was serious business, he wouldn't have accepted coffee; so that meant something was bothering him, and he'd come here to talk about it. The only question now was what was so bad that Kakashi needed someone to talk to?

Tenzou finished making their drinks and brought them to the dining room where Kakashi had put his elbow on the table, and had rested his head in his hand, and was staring off into space with a troubled expression plastered on his face. He set his coffee in front of him; and he sat up straighter in the chair, now brought back to reality. He took a sip as Tenzou got himself seated; and when he was settled, too, he spoke. 

"You look kind of depressed." He said. "What's going on?"

"It's Iruka." Kakashi sighed. "I just… I don't know what to do…"

"Huh? What happened this time?" Tenzou asked. "Come to think of it, weren't you supposed to have a date with him tonight?"

"I did, but it didn't exactly go as planned..."

"How so?"

"Well, the date itself was nice - we had dinner at a nice restaurant, then spent the evening at the village gardens just chatting and enjoying each other's company before I walked him home; but he was giving me mixed signals the entire time, and now I don't know whether he likes me or not… I don't want to give up on him, but if he doesn't like me, what's the point?"

"Of course he likes you! Why would he go on a date with you if he didn't?"

"Because I…" Kakashi faltered. "Well…"

"What?"

"I, ah… Um…"

"Spit it out, Senpai." Tenzou sighed. "What did you do?"

"I may not have specified that it was a date." Kakashi said hesitantly.

"Come on. No." Tenzou said in disbelief. "You didn't. You're messing with me."

He studied Kakashi's flushed face, instantly being able to tell that he was serious; and he buried his head in his hands and groaned.

"I cannot believe you right now." He mumbled. "You are an _idiot_."

"But I've been flirting with him, and making it pretty obvious. Surely, he'd get the hint anyway?" He debated, still unconvinced, himself.

"And what would _you_ think if someone you were close to started flirting with you, and you didn't know that they were interested?"

"I... I guess I'd think they were..." Kakashi's voice trailed off as he realised what Tenzou was trying to say. "Joking... around..." He mumbled, his cheeks growing warm.

"Exactly."

"Ahh, what did I _do_?" Kakashi moaned, crossing his arms on the table and burying his head into them. "Iruka will never go out with me, now!"

"Relax, Senpai - you have probably just confused him. All you need to do is ask him out on a date properly, or tell him how you feel about him, and everything will work itself out."

Kakashi lifted his head timidly.

"You really think so?"

"Of course." Tenzou assured. "I think he likes you; and if you make it clear that you like him, too, you have a real shot at being with him."

"Okay. I'll give it a go."

Kakashi reached for his cup.

"And hey..." Tenzou said with a teasing smirk. "In case you're too chicken to actually say anything, bring him flowers - there's no way he'll misinterpret that!"

"Flowers, huh..." He hummed, taking another sip of coffee.

Suddenly, an idea came to him; and he knew exactly what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Iruka was humming to himself on his way to work. After hanging out with Kakashi over the weekend, he'd been in a great mood - he hadn't realised how much he'd needed the break, to get out of the house for a bit; and Kakashi had been perfect company. He couldn't think of a better way to have spent his time; and he was grateful that he had Kakashi in his life. If he was being honest, he would love to go on a date with him sometime, rather than just hang out; but he was afraid of asking - he wasn't sure how Kakashi felt about him, and didn't want to make things awkward between them. Maybe one day he would ask him out; but only if he knew he was interested in him and thought he had a chance… 

Iruka looked up at his surroundings and saw the academy ahead; and he subconsciously picked up the pace, his mind drifting to thoughts of his routine, and what he needed to get done before class started. He still had plenty of time - none of the students would even be around yet; but he liked to be prepared and have a bit of time to himself in the mornings.

He entered the grounds, and beelined straight for the L shaped building towards the left of the main entrance, and let himself into the smaller strip, where the staff room was. Sometimes when he opened the door, he was greeted with silence; and other times, the building was filled with the sound of friendly chatter - it all depended on how awake everyone was, and the time of year; and this time, when he opened the door, it was the latter. Each and every voice echoing down the hallway was full of life and excitement; and as Iruka followed the path, he listened out curiously, wondering what was going on.

"Did you see who did it?!"

"No. It was already there before the janitor arrived."

"What?! So someone broke into the academy, then?"

"Seems like it."

"Who do you think it was?"

"I don't know… I wasn't even aware that Umino-san was seeing anyone."

_What?!_ Iruka froze. Did he just hear what he thought he had? Were they talking about _him_? He quietly crept closer, masking his chakra so that no one knew he was approaching; and listened further.

"Yeah. He's so conservative. I've never even seen him flirt with anyone before."

"He would have had to, though, to catch somebody's eye like that!"

"Definitely. Iruka-san is attractive, but no one would do _that_ just because they thought he was hot - he'd have to have given them a reason to do it."

Iruka's face grew hot as he listened in on the conversation about his love life; and he soon decided he'd had enough, and wanted to know what was going on, and what started the discussion in the first place.

"Do what?" He asked, as he entered the staff room.

"Ah, U-Umino-san! You're here already!"

"I've been here for a couple of minutes." He said pointedly.

Half the people in the staff room fell silent and turned away from him, most of them with guilt plastered on their faces, after realising he knew they'd been talking about him. But there were also a few who had a glimmer in their eyes, like they were living through the most exciting thing to ever exist.

"Well?" Iruka asked, crossing his arms. "What were you talking about?"

Before anyone could respond, there was a knock on the door, and Iruka turned around to find Aoba standing there. It was rare for him to be over here, since he was only a substitute and worked at the other end of the academy grounds when he was around; and Iruka studied him curiously, wondering what he wanted. 

"Oh, good, Iruka-san. I'm glad you’re here." Aoba said. "Come with me to your classroom."

"Huh? Why?"

"You'll see when you get there." He answered. "We should probably go before the kids start arriving."

"O-Okay, then." Iruka replied hesitantly.

He and Aoba left the room, leaving the other teachers behind, and followed the hallway down to the end of the building. They took the turn to the right, where all the classrooms were; and Iruka almost stopped in his tracks. There was a path of rose petals ahead, travelling down the hallway; and further along, the path turned to the left, clearly leading to one of the rooms, or more specifically, _his_ classroom.

Iruka hadn't known what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that; and it made him all the more curious about what he was going to find when he and Aoba reached the end of the path. The way everyone had sounded before, whatever had been done wasn't something small, so Iruka's heart was racing in anticipation of what he was about to see. 

When they arrived; and Aoba slid the door open and stepped to the side, inviting him in. But when Iruka reached the doorway, he couldn't go any further; and stood there with his hands over his mouth, quietening his gasp.

"Oh my god... W-What the?!" He whispered as he tentatively stepped in; and as he looked around at the scene, his cheeks going red.

The rose petal path led right to his desk and surrounded it, creating a blanket of red on the floor. They covered the top of his desk, too; and on top of them was a large bouquet of flowers overflowing from a small woven basket. It was an arrangement with a variety of flowers, all in various shades of red, pink, and white; and beneath it was an envelope with his name on it. It was a beautiful set up, and Iruka was in awe of the surprise.

"Who _did_ this?" He breathed.

He couldn't believe someone had gone out of their way to set up something so romantic for him. _Surely,_ there had to be some kind of mistake. _Surely_ , it was meant for someone else. But the name on the envelope told him that it was definitely for him; and he smiled warmly as he took in everything.

"You really don't know?" Aoba frowned.

"No, I don't."

He had no idea who would do something like this for him, but it made him feel special, and loved.

"Hmm…"

Aoba studied the room.

"Well, even though this is harmless, if the principal finds out, the person who did it will probably be charged for a breach of security." He said.

"Are you going to report them?"

"Do you want me to?"

"I understand the need to report this, but…" Iruka trailed off hesitantly. Was it really worth all the trouble because someone wanted to leave him flowers? And who knew? Maybe they _did_ get permission before they did this - all that paperwork, and trouble for nothing...

"Well, if you want to give them a chance," Aoba replied in the silence, "I won't say anything this time, and I'll get the others to keep quiet about it; but tell this person off for me, and don't let them do this again, will you? Or else I will have to speak to the principal."

"I will. Thank you." Iruka smiled gratefully.

He wandered over to his desk, and picked up the envelope that had been laid in front of the flowers, studying it curiously. The script felt familiar to him; but he couldn't be sure whose it was, since he saw a lot of people's handwriting in the mission room.

Figuring he'd find out more inside, he turned it over to open it, and discovered a small seal had been written on to prevent just anyone from opening it. He smiled smugly as he put his chakra through and worked through the locks - whoever wrote this clearly knew what his colleagues were like, and had done a good job at preventing them from snooping. Though he imagined he would be bombarded with questions later… Not that he planned on saying anything. He doubted Aoba would, too, if he saw the details, since he'd offered to keep quiet about this.

Once the seal was broken, Iruka pulled out the folded slip of paper inside, and read its simple message.

_Iruka,_

_I would like to meet with you after work._

_I will be waiting here:_

Iruka studied the address below, noting that it was in one of the dining districts, and not a residential area; and he wondered if this person was trying to ask him out on a date, or whether they just wanted to meet in a public place to talk. There was no name beneath it, so he couldn't guess based on who it was; but whatever the case, Iruka was planning to go - he felt obliged to after this person put in all this effort for him; and he wanted to know who was courting him. But first, he had to get through the day.

Iruka looked up at the clock and sighed.

Only _how_ many more hours to go?


	3. Chapter 3

As the afternoon ticked by, Kakashi was becoming more and more nervous. He'd decided to set up flowers in Iruka's classroom and then ask to meet with him later so that he had no choice but to confess his feelings; but now that Iruka would be here any moment, he was beginning to have second thoughts. What if Iruka didn't like him and flat out rejected him? What if he'd figured out it was him and decided not to show? What if he _hadn't_ , and thought he was some creep, and decided not to go because the idea made him uncomfortable?

Kakashi sighed. Maybe he should have at least hinted that it was himself...

_Ding, ding!_

The tiny bell on the store's door jingled; and when Kakashi sensed a very familiar chakra signature in the building, his heart lurched in his throat. Iruka... He was here...

"Good afternoon." The elderly salesman greeted.

"Afternoon." Iruka replied.

He was mildly surprised. He'd been expecting to meet at a cafe or some other kind of food venue, but had instead stepped into a book store - a second hand one, judging by the musty smell.

As he looked around, slowly pacing down one of the aisles, he quickly figured out that there was only one other person here besides the shop keeper and himself; and butterflies began to stir in his stomach when he focused on their chakra signature - this was definitely someone he knew.

Iruka made his way towards the back of the store, where their chakra seemed strongest; and the air seemed to still around him. With the shop keeper now out of sight, it would just be him and the person waiting for him, in such an intimate amount of space; and that both excited him and put him on edge - anything could happen while there was no one else around. Regardless, he continued forward - he _had_ to know who left him the arrangement that morning.

Iruka passed another bookshelf, and found himself at the back, in a small, open space. It was set up similar to a waiting room, with several lounge chairs and coffee tables lining the walls, alongside a small water dispenser; but being surrounded by books, the atmosphere felt more cozy and relaxing. It seemed to be a place where shoppers could sit down and read for a bit, almost like a small library; and as Iruka studied the area, he noticed one person doing just that. Or at least, they _were_ before they noticed him arrive.

The reader closed their book, revealing themselves to him; and Iruka stared wide-eyed, his heart skipping several beats as he took in their profile.

"Hi, Iruka..."

"K-Kakashi? It was _you_?" Iruka asked in surprise.

"Yes " He replied nervously, getting up from his seat. "I'm glad you came."

Iruka couldn't believe it. He had hoped it would be him, but he never thought it actually would be. He'd been wanting Kakashi to like him back all this time, and now, finally, he was here, showing him that he did; and it felt like a dream. He couldn't be happier.

"I, uh... _wow._ " He smiled nervously, his face growing hot. He really had no idea what to say. Kakashi didn't, either; and he stood awkwardly in the intense silence, until he finally mustered up the courage to speak.

"Did you, ah, like the flowers?" He asked, his voice ending the question with a hesitant higher pitch.

"I did - I thought they were beautiful." Iruka replied, scratching at his nose, and glancing away as he grew more embarrassed by the second.

"I'm glad." Kakashi smiled fondly.

"But I have been wondering... Why did you do all that? You know you can get in trouble for breaking into the academy, right?"

"Ahh, well..." He chuckled timidly. "I just wanted to make sure you got the hint this time."

"This time?" Iruka asked in confusion, studying Kakashi's expression.

"Yeah. Last time we went out... It was supposed to be a date, but you didn't exactly pick up on it..."

"That was a...?"

Iruka recalled the evening, how they'd gone to a fancy restaurant and Kakashi hadn't let him pay for anything; how they'd been particularly close to one another, and Kakashi had even cuddled up to him when they had visited the village gardens; and then how he'd insisted on walking him home. And as realisation hit, Iruka's eyes grew wide, and his mouth opened in horror; and he slapped his face in disbelief.

"Oh my god, I am such an idiot..." He moaned. " _How_ did I not know that was a date?! Please tell me this was the first time..."

He looked at Kakashi, who just shook his head.

"Oh no... I'm so sorry!" Iruka gasped, putting his hands over his mouth. "I really wish I'd had known..."

Kakashi still couldn't tell how Iruka felt after all this - sure, he was surprised that they had been on a date, and he'd apologised for being unaware; but he hadn't really indicated how he'd felt about the idea, whether he wanted that or not; and that prompted him to speak again.

"So, um... What's your answer?" He asked nervously. "Would you like to... ah... you know..." He trailed off, becoming more embarrassed with every word he spoke.

"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that."

Kakashi took a deep breath and tried to settle his nerves. He wasn't going to back down now, he _couldn't_ \- he had to say it properly. He pulled down his mask, and tried again.

"What I was trying to ask was, would you like to go out with me?" He repeated. "And be my boyfriend."

Iruka stared at him in shock, his heart pounding wildly.

"A-Am… Am I… dreaming?"

"No." Kakashi swallowed. "This is real."

He stepped forward and took both of Iruka's hands in his, his nerves now under control.

"Iruka, you captured my heart long ago. You are the greatest joy in my life, and you make it worth living. I love spending time with you, and I want to do it, not as friends, but as lovers. I'm not perfect, but I can promise you I'll do anything to make you as happy as you make me. You're a man worth fighting for, and I want to show you how special you are." He said. "So… Will you let me do that? Will you be mine?"

"Ka… kashi…" Iruka breathed, gazing at him besottedly, enchanted by his words.

Tears blurred his vision as he processed everything; and without a second thought, he pulled his hands from Kakashi's, and leapt into his arms, holding him tightly. He buried his head into his shoulder, soaking in his warmth, his scent, his _everything_ ; and Kakashi pulled him even closer, his arms keeping a solid grip around his waist. He didn't want to let Iruka go. Not now, not ever. If this hug meant what he thought it did, Iruka was _his_ now; and he was going to make sure it stayed that way.

"I have been waiting years to hear you say that." Iruka murmured into his clothes. "Of course I'll be yours."

Kakashi's heart fluttered. Hearing Iruka say yes meant everything to him; and he wanted nothing more than to show him that, so he took a deep breath, and spoke again.

"Then…" He began hesitantly, his face growing hot. "May I kiss you?"

Iruka pulled back and lifted his head; and gazed at him fondly, a warm smile and gentle blush creeping on his face.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Kakashi returned the smile, and leaned in, closing his eyes as he pressed his lips against his; and Iruka melted against him. He had quite often imagined what it would be like to kiss Kakashi, but he never thought it would feel this good - his lips were soft and gentle, and the way he touched him was reaching right into his soul. Kakashi was taking his breath away, and intoxicating him with his taste; and he was growing weaker with every second that passed.

Iruka's fingers dug into his shirt as he pressed harder into the kiss; and Kakashi let out a pleasured gasp as he parted his lips further and let him slip his tongue in. He could feel Iruka's passion rippling through his own body; and it made him want him so much more.

"Iruka." He murmured hotly.

"Mn?"

"Do you, ah... want to go back to my place, and get to know each other better there?"

"Mhm." Iruka hummed, kissing him passionately in response.

"Just so you know," Kakashi said in between several heated kisses, "I don't mean to talk."

"Oh, really?" Iruka purred. "What do mean, then?"

"How about I show you, so you get the hint."

"I'd like that." He murmured.

And after hearing that Iruka wanted this, too, Kakashi couldn't get out of the shop fast enough. He'd already done his waiting - years of it; and now it was finally time to be together... as _lovers_.

Could life get any better than this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come and see everything else the [Kakairu Rocks forum](https://kakairu.rocks/) has to offer! We're a community for all kakairu lovers aged 13+, and would love to see you around!


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